(1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for entering various types of data (i.e. for the purposes of registration, input, or the like), and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for processing form documents by which data printed on form document are entered, as well as to a computer readable recording medium having form document processing program recorded thereon.
(2). Description of the Related Art
An entry system used for entering various types of received data usually processes received data in a predetermined sequence. Such an entry system is employed by, e.g., a financial institution.
FIG. 21 shows the configuration of a typical entry system. An entry system 100 shown in FIG. 21 comprises one or more entry terminals (e.g., workstations for business use which are installed in a branch office and will be hereinafter abbreviated as "WS") 50A, 50B and an unillustrated host computer (e.g., an unillustrated server which is also installed in the branch office).
The entry terminals 50A, 50B check the contents of the data written on form document to be entered and display the contents on a screen. The operator makes a correction to (or edition) the data, and the entry terminal checks the results of correction. Subsequently, according to the contents of the data, the data are transmitted to predetermined destinations, such as those which will be described later. For example, as shown in FIG. 21, the entry terminal 50A comprises a display 51a, a computer body 52a; and an input device 53a, and the entry terminal 50B comprises a display 51b, a computer body 52b, and an input device 53b.
Upon receipt of form data, the entry terminals 50A, 50B display the received form data, respectively, on the displays 51a, 51b via the computers 52a, 52b. The data are subjected to given processing through use of the input devices 53a, 53b.
Upon receipt of form data from the entry terminals 50A, 50B via an information transmission line 50C, the host computer transmits the thus-received form data to another entry terminal (not shown). Even the host computer is designed so as to be capable of performing the same processing as that performed by the entry terminals 50A, 50B.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 22(a), each of the foregoing entry terminals 50A, 50B is made up of, e.g., a stage processing section 60 comprising a receiving section 601, an entry processing section 602, and a sorting section 603. The stage processing section 60 performs given processing (e.g., checking for erroneous data, data edition, determination of destinations, or the like) according to the contents of the received form data (or the data which are written on form document and are to be entered) and sorts out form data according to corresponding destinations.
In short, by virtue of the stage processing section 60, the foregoing entry terminals 50A, 50B can process the received form data in a given manner.
The receiving section 601 is designed so as to receive entered form data; more specifically, image data resulting from reading form data and recognized character information resulting from recognition of characters from the image data or data manually entered by the operator.
On the basis of given conditions, the entry processing section 602 subjects form data received from the receiving section 601 to several processing operations, such as checking for erroneous data, data edition (data correction), or determination of a destination of the post-edited form data. To this end, the entry processing section 602 has an input/output processing section 602A and check tables 604 and 605.
The input/output processing section 602A is used for displaying on the screen form data received from the receiving section 601 and for performing checking, editing, and sorting operations under the conditions set in the check tables 604, 605, which will be described later. The input/output processing section 602A corresponds to the foregoing displays 51a, 51b and the input devices 53a, 53b (see FIG. 21).
The check table 604 (see FIG. 22(b)) is a table used for determining whether or not the data themselves include errors, and the check table 605 (see FIG. 22(c)) is a table used for determining a destination for the data. The determination of the destination is made by the check table 605 according to the type of form document, a monetary amount, or the contents of form data.
In other words, the entry processing section 602 is designed so as to display on the screen form data received from the receiving section 601 by means of the input/output processing section 602A, as well as to check on the basis of the check table 604 whether or not the contents of form data are correct.
The data errors detected by the foregoing check table 604 are originated in the matter entered in form document. If the matter correctly entered in the form document is recognized as an error, the operator detects this matter by reference to the image data of the form document. In this way, two ways of detecting data errors are provided.
The editing operation performed by the entry processing section 602 is accomplished by the operator making a correction to the data errors detected by the aforementioned two ways.
In a financial facility, jobs must be sorted into those which may be performed by a clerk at a teller's window on his own authority and into those which require the approval of another clerk (e.g., a service clerk or a branch manager) according to the type of form document or the monetary amount to be handled. To this end, the entry processing section 602 is designed so as to automatically determine the destination of the corrected form data (or the category into which the corrected form data are sorted) on the basis of the foregoing check table 605 (i.e., according to the contents of form data, e.g., the type of form document or a monetary amount).
Further, the sorting section 603 transmits form data processed by the entry processing section 602 to the destination determined by the entry processing section 602.
Since the foregoing entry terminals 50A, 50B are connected together via the host computer, the stage processing sections 60 provided, respectively, for the entry terminals 50A, 50B are capable of exchanging form data with each other. Still more, form data can be sent to and received from the entry terminals 50A, 50B without intervention of the host computer.
With the foregoing configuration, when the foregoing entry system 100 receives form data, the entry terminals 50A, 50B subject the thus-received form data to checking, editing, and destination-determination operations upon reference to the check tables 604 and 605. Subsequently, the thus-processed form data are transmitted to desired destinations through the medium of the information transmission line 50C and the host computer.
Accordingly, the foregoing entry system 100 enables a round of entry tasks to be processed in orderly sequence and in tandem with each other, on the basis of the check tables 604, 605 imparted with a degree of freedom for each task.
However, in the foregoing entry system 100, the processing operations performed by the entry processing section 602--that is, the checking for the data entered in a received form (e.g., dates, monetary amounts, and account numbers in a case where entry task is performed by a financial facility), the editing of form data, and the sorting of the post-edited form data--are very complicated. Further, the details of the processing vary among tasks (i.e., the processing operations have a high degree of task dependence), and therefore the existing data entry system suffers from the difficulty of setting in the check tables 604, 605 conditions other than the boundary conditions under which variations in a part of a program (e.g., a check editing logic) may be predicted beforehand.
More specifically, with regard to the foregoing entry system 100, a program used for constructing the entry system 100 for each type of task is developed. The details of the aforementioned processing operations may be set in the check tables 604, 605 together with a certain degree of freedom. However, the degree of freedom is limited to the range of variations in a task.
For this reason, in a case where the details of the processing operations beyond the range of variations in a task are set (e.g., in a case where the number of check items provided in the check tables 604, 605 is additionally increased), the check tables 604, 605 cannot address these settings by themselves, and hence the program itself must be changed, requiring immense labor and time and adding to the cost of the entry system.
The check tables 604, 605 may be incorporated into form document processing program in the form of logic. However, this results in complication of the program and an increase in the labor and cost, as well as in the consumption of much time.